[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. what do you say? it is thursday, thursday, april 18. and this is the "full court press" coming to you live on current tv. this shameful day here in washington, d.c. as president obama said it is a pretty shameful day around here. nothing to be proud of. we'll tell you all about it and take your calls at 1-866-55-pre. we'll look forward to hearing

from you on twitter at bpshow and come on, come on! be our friend on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. what a shameful day, the most shameful day we can remember, i can ever remember out of washington. when 46 senators decided that they would rather stand with the gun manufacturers and rather stand with the gun lobby and nra than 20 little angels gunned down at sandy look elementary school or their grieving parents who came down here and begged the senators to take action. they don't give a damn about the american people. don't give a damn about those beautiful little babies or their families or their brave teachers who stood by them. no doubt who's responsible. 90% of democrats voted yes. 90 pest of republicans voted no. meanwhile up in boston, thanks to video from lord & taylor police have hot leads in that investigation. but don't believe what you hear

on cnn. no arrest has been made in that case. we'll bring you up to date on both big stories and more on current tv. alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

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documentaries that are real, gripping, current. >> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. on current tv. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: the nra wins. the american people lose. what a sad day. good morning everybody. april 18, thursday. here we are. it is the "full court press." we're coming to you live all the way across this great land from our nation's capital where senators are elected to do the will of the american people and

instead, yesterday they did the will of the gun manufacturers and the gun lobby. you can be sure there will be more mass murders more massacres, in the next weeks and next months in this country but most of the united states senators don't give a rat's ass about it. hate to start with that downer but that's the way it is here on the "full court press" this morning. that's mainly what we're going to be talking about and taking your calls about here on this thursday morning. coming to you live from our nation's capital, just down the street from the scene of that cowardly vote yesterday. and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. looking forward to hearing from you and hearing your outrage on twitter at bpshow and on facebook, be our friend on facebook and tell us where the hell we go from here at facebook.com/billpressshow. man, lots to talk about this

morning. we're all here. with peter ogborn and dan henning. >> yes sir. >> good morning. >> bill: we come in even on bad days. alichia cruz is here to take your calls. burn up the phone lines this morning. cyprian bowlding will keep us look calm, cool and collected on the video cam. there's news on a lot of different fronts this morning. actually you probably heard overnight. a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant. they're saying this is the same stuff that timothy mcveigh used to build that bomb that leveled the murrah building in -- not leveled it but destroyed the murrah building certainly in oklahoma city. and there are some 170 injuries. we don't know how many fatalities at the plant. it was -- the explosion was felt some 25 miles away. it has been registered as a 2.1 on the richter scale which is --

i've been through earthquakes a lot bigger than that. but that's an earthquake that you feel. 2.1 on the richter scale. that registers. i'll tell you. also breaking news overnight that the fbi has made an arrest. they got the guy that sent those letters laced with ricin to senator roger wicker and to president obama. no connection to the boston bombings, just a nut case who sends a lot of letters to members of congress demanding to be heard. he put a little poison in. he thought that might help out. he'll spend a good deal of time behind bars. we'll see how he gets heard there. >> my favorite part of that story is the guy put his own real initials on the letter. >> bill: this is kc and i approve this message. and up in boston, no matter what you've been led to believe by cnn, no arrests have been made

but there has been a lot of progress in the investigation. you wouldn't know that by watching cnn yesterday. they got -- they had to be out there. they had to get ahead of the story. they had to make things happen with breaking news! >> announcer: this is cnn's breaking news. >> wolf, we have information. an arrest has been made in the investigation. >> identified has now been arrested. >> i was told by a boston law enforcement source, we've got him. >> bill: we got him john king said and not only that, he even identified -- not identified, he described, he described this mystery man who had been arrested. >> federal law enforcement source says an arrest has been made based on two different videos showing a video of the suspect. a dark-skinned male placing a package at the second explosion site and backing away. >> bill: you know he had to be a dark-skinned man. right? exactly. john king. wrong on both counts.

no arrest. no dark skin. no, we got him. no nothing. what they did find is from the video, they have some video from a lord & taylor department store looking across the street at a male who was wearing a big backpack and puts the pack back down and runs away when the first blast is heard up the street. that's giving police some very good leads plus the pieces of the backpack that they found and the pieces of the pressure cooker that they found. and they're working on the case. but the media can't wait. they just can't. and then cnn reports this. it was followed up, "the boston globe" reported it, "the associated press" reported it, fox news ran with it. shame on them all! let the police do their damn job! >> it is the oldest saying in the book. and it is better to get it right than to be first.

>> bill: i would say on top of cnn telling the world that the supreme court had overturned obama care, maybe they had better slow things down a little bit in the cnn newsroom. >> there was a period of time, i would say it was about 30, 45 minutes where -- i would say about an hour where cnn was the only sort of lone wolf out there saying they made the arrest. they made the arrest. a lot of people, our friend dylan byers said this could be the moment cnn gets redemption for screwing up the supreme court case and now it turns out that they only dug themselves in a deeper hole. >> bill: yeah. and used to be that breaking news, you turned to cnn to get it right. breaking news now maybe you turn to cnn to find out what did not make the news. speaking of breaking news, while you were talking peter abc reporting between -- authorities estimate between 5 to 15 fatalities in the texas

fertilizer plant explosion. whoa. the senate failing the test yesterday. but first... >> announcer: this is the "full court press." a quick check of other headlines making news on this thursday. a powerful start to the boston bruins game. renee cancord is the legendary the anthem singer, always sings the national anthem. he began as he always does but then let the fans take it away. they shut off his microphone. all 17,000 plus sang in basically perfect tune which made for a spectacular performance. that video has instantly gone viral overnight. >> bill: we'll play that a little bit later. it was a powerful moment indeed. more downfall for the salahis, the people who crashed the dinner at the white house their winery that got them on the map -- >> i can't believe i have to hear that name again. >> you'll enjoy this story. the winery that got them on the map in the washington social scene is going into foreclosure.

the 19,000 square foot building and 102 acre vineyard will go on the auction block next month. proper assessed around $1.7 million. the business has been shut for several years due to poor management and tariq and mikayla's divorce. >> maybe we ought to buy it. >> couldn't have happened to a nicer group of people. >> bill: buy the vineyards? >> press vineyards. >> "full court press." >> there you go. golden state warriors guard steven curry made nba history last night breaking the record for the most three-point shots in a season. he hit his 269th and 270th three-pointers against the portland trailblazers to top ray allen's record in 2005 with the seattle supersonics. >> that's amazing. >> bill: that is. hey, i forgot to mention, coming up this morning with us in studio will be senator chris

koonce from delaware. we'll get his take on that vote yesterday. congresswoman karen bass from california. my two states well represented today. karen bass and chris coons and also we will check in with the brady campaign against gun violence a little bit later in this hour, too. but indeed as president obama called it yesterday, it was a day of shame. the vote coming up on the background checks and that vote in the united states senate failed, of course, six short of what they needed to break the filibuster. yes, 90% of republicans -- 90% of americans are for universal background checks. we discovered yesterday that 90% of republicans are against it. and are willing to vote against it. president obama really reflecting i think the outrage felt by the vast, vast majority of americans. went out to the rose garden yesterday afternoon.

flanked by joe biden on one side gaby giffords on the other side. parents of the newtown victims there standing with him. one of the fathers of one of the young first graders who actually spoke first in the rose garden and then president obama took the microphone and you could tell he wasn't faking it. he was pissed. >> obama: do we really think that thousands of families whose lives have been shattered by gun violence don't have a right to weigh in on this issue! do we think their emotions, their loss is not relevant to this debate? so all in all, this was a pretty shameful day for washington. >> bill: the president alluding to the fact that some republicans had actually criticized the newtown families for coming to washington and lobbying saying that they were just being used as props. >> that drives me absolutely crazy. >> bill: you lose your son, you lose your daughter and you

want to do something about it and they attack you? these guys have no heart whatsoever. >> yesterday they were called whiners. they were called props. it is sick. >> bill: totally disgusting. the president pointed out you think the majority rules in this country? you think democracy still works in this country? uh-huh. the president said it didn't work here. >> obama: it's not gonna happen because 90% of republicans in the senate just voted against that idea. a majority of senators voted yes to protecting more of our citizens with smarter back ground checks. but by this continuing distortion of senate rules a minority was able to block it from moving forward. >> bill: still stick to the filibuster. harry reid should have fixed it when he had a chance and he didn't. shame on him. the president pointing out, have a majority of senators who want to do the right thing. willing to do the right thing.

uh-huh. no. that's not enough. that's not enough. majority does not rule any longer in the united states senate. and the president didn't mince any words when it came to the nra. >> obama: instead of supporting this, they fully lied about the bill. they claimed it would create some sort of big brother gun registry even though the bill did the opposite. this legislation in fact, outlaud any registry. plain and simple right there in the text. but that didn't matter. >> bill: didn't matter. i got to tell you man, this is personal with me. we've talked about -- i've been around politics a long time. i've been -- at every level. run campaigns local campaigns state campaigns national campaigns, i've been a candidate myself. i was chair of the california democratic party. i've raised millions of dollars for candidates and supported candidates. for a long time. and i've known a lot of fun and

a lot of joy and a lot of disappointments along the way, too. lost campaigns candidates i supported lost, causes i supported didn't make it. some of the people i helped elect disappointed me because they forgot who their friends were but through all of that i've always maintained and preserved a great faith in the political system. great faith in politics. i gotta tell you no longer, not after yesterday. screw them all. i've had it with them. send the whole freakin' bunch of them home. they're a total freakin' waste of time. the united states senate. if they can't get this right they can't get anything right. how dare they! how dare they stand with a gun lobby instead of the people of this country and the kids of this country. and all those b.s. excuses you hear. oh, you know -- chuck grassley said this yesterday. this would not have prevented newtown. guess what the parents of newtown said, in this case, this background check would not have

prevented it because he was able to get his guns from his mother, his mother's house. he didn't have to go to a gun show but a lot of others do. it might not have saved those 20 kids' lives but it could have saved lives at columbine. who knows how many massacres lie ahead of us. they say this is going to create a gun registry. as the president said, that's a big, fat lie. we've had background checks since 1994. and there's no gun registry. and the bill that manchin toomey legislation specifically prohibits keeping any of that information that you give in a background check specifically prohibits it. it is a great big lie. i'm telling you, this was a test. this was a test. the united states senate to be worth keeping the lights on and i think they prove that they're. >> no send the whole bunch of them home. 1-866-55-press.

let's make one other point here. four democrats voted against this. and shame on them. we'll tell you who they were next time. but you gotta blame this mainly on the republican party. 90% of republicans voted against it. republican party decided to take a stand and they're going to take a stand with the nra and not with the american people. disgusting. 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show."

>> bill: 25 minutes after the hour. of course, should have mentioned senate also voted down the assault weapons ban and a ban on those high-capacity magazine clips, as well. for the record, the four republicans who voted in favor of background checks broke with their party, good for them. susan collins, john mccain, pat toomey of course and mark kirk of illinois. the four democrats who voted against it and shame on them, heidi heitkamp, north dakota. mark pryor from arkansas. max baucus from montana and mark begich from alaska, but just want to point out even if all four of those democrats had voted for it it still would not have passed because republicans filibustered it and 90% voted against it. >> people are fired up on twitter where we're tweeting at bpshow. echoing what you just said.

shame on heitkamp and reid for not getting this done. >> bill: harry reid voted no but he voted no as a procedural matter so he has a right then to bring the bill up again for another vote. so we have to recognize that. >> phil does my job for me. he self-edits. he just says bleep the bleeping nra bleeps who bleeping bought the bleeping congress and bleep those bleeping nra tools who lack the backbones. >> bill: sounds like me, too. yeah, right. joey in chicago. joey, come on, what's going on? >> caller: i gotta tell you right now bill, unless you can donate money to them people, those sandy hook people never had a chance because the republican party only cares about the corporations who can finance their campaigns. they don't give a damn about the american people. i am so sick of them working for corporations and gun manufacturers and for big business i want every one of them out of congress. the people need to take back

congress. i've had it with them. >> bill: joey, you're right. i share your outrage. you know what? that's what it is going to take. throw the whole damn bunch out and start from scratch. we would be better off and in the meantime, shut them down. james? down in nashville. hey, james. >> caller: how you doing? i'll tell you what they need to do, what we need to do is publish the photographs of those people shot with the guns. just like the civil rights movement. people need to see what those guns do. >> bill: yeah, well, i think without seeing too much of graphic photos from inside the school, i think the american people know what those guns do and i think the american people see what happened at sandy hook and the american people want some action. joey's right.

these senators just have their hands out for the campaign contributions from the gun lobby. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: how about it on this thursday morning 33 minutes now after the hour. major colossal screwup on the part of the united states senate yesterday. probably the worst act of cowardice -- certainly seen in my lifetime out of the united states congress.

if there's anything that was compelling need for the congress to act, it was to act to protect our kids and to try to do something to prevent gun violence in the country. you can never end it but you can certainly slow it down by making more difficult for criminals to get their hands on these guns, people who shouldn't have them. the united states senate voted the other way voted to basically invite criminals and the mentally ill to buy assault weapons and to use them against innocent people. in mass numbers. we'll get back to your calls and comments about it. 1-866-55-press. but first, on the issue question of identity theft. i've told you it pops up all over the place. just about every state how about out in the state of utah. saw this story this morning. here is a guy a former county employee asked for a copy of his personnel file. the county gave him a cd with all of that on it. he got it home and turned out it

had the social security numbers and personal information on several other county employees making it easy for him to commit identity theft. you could be a victim of it, too, if you're not protected against it. i suggest lifelock ultimate. that's what i've got. the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection ever made. lifelock can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. call now and mention press 60 and you'll get 60 risk-free days of lifelock ultimate identity theft protection. if you're not happy call within 60 days to cancel with a full refund. see lifelock.com for details and call them at 800-356-5967 for lifelock ultimate. just a couple more points about how outrageous this is yesterday. first of all, there were -- i mentioned they also shot down -- if that's the appropriate term,

the assault weapons ban. and the ban on high-capacity magazine clips. one of the other things that was considered i think chuck grassley proposed this. no it wasn't. someone else had this measure that would have allowed people who have a concealed weapons permit in one state to carry that weapon, concealed weapon, even into any other state. even states that don't allow concealed wednesday. so, in other words you live in florida or texas where they have a concealed weapons bill, you could take your gun anywhere in the country right? that also lost but more people voted for that than voted for universal background checks. isn't that disgusting? and one other thing thanks to "buzzfeed," back in 1999, the senate -- that's the last time the senate considered a measure to require universal background

checks. at that time, the nra supported the measure. they're against it today. they were for it then. there are eight senators who were still senators who voted for universal background checks back then and -- some of them voted against it. the ones who were for it then and are still for it today are john mccain and susan collins. but the six who were for it then but against it yesterday i guess because they got more money from the nra and the nra flipped its position, the nra flipped its position so they did. it shows who they serve. >> it is so transparent. it is so transparent. >> bill: how could the nra want us to vote on it this year. >> the nra. shame on them. orrin hatch. mitch mcconnell.

jeff sessions. richard shelby. chuck grassley and mike grapple. so when the nra said it is okay to vote yes, they did. when the nra said vote no, they did. we say jump. you say how high. >> a stream of comments on twitter by the way at bpshow, please follow us there. you could play along with the show. lots of people stand with joey, our last caller. they're just as upset as he is. john also says when someone gets a gun from a gun show or a person and does a massacre, these politicians will be called to account. and sam says the senate in its present form is broken, not capable of serving the american people. find us at bpshow on twitter. >> bill: again the argument that this is government gone too far is just so -- it doesn't even pass the laugh test. we have background checks and we have since 1994 at gun dealers. if it makes sense to get a

criminal check for somebody buying a gun at a gun dealer you tell me why it doesn't also make sense to have a criminal background check for somebody buying a gun at a gun show. or on the internet. i mean, there's no way with a straight face, you can make the argument that gun checks here are okay. but over here, they're too much big government. brandon calling from everett washington. hey, brandon. >> caller: how you doing? democrats are smart what they should do is put up a web cast, commercials, whatever, faces of the people who voted against this and said they support it assault weapons over children's lives. and they should also make it clear that 90% of us wanted this and these people supported corporations and the gun manufacturers over democracy. it doesn't matter whether you're democrat republican or independent. if you want a democracy or do

you want what you have right now? >> bill: i agree brandon. i think you're going to see that. i hate to turn this into a partisan political campaign but actually it is a bipartisan political campaign against the people who voted no. and i hope -- i guess the only guy who can do that for us may be -- michael bloomberg because he's got the money and he's got the backbone to do it is put a campaign together. i would say right now. and target every single one of those 46 senators. whether they were democrats or republicans. you know, where we would really learn a lesson and where members of congress would learn the lesson, if every single one of those 46 senators who voted against this were thrown out of office the next time around on this issue alone. i mean, go after them on this issue alone.

th they just showed they don't deserve to be there because they have no backbone whatsoever. and they don't care about the american people. and they don't have the balls to do the right thing. they just do what they think is going to save their political hide. jill is up in ithaca, new york. >> caller: i'm angry, of course. i think it is time for -- there's what? about 90% of us want the background check? >>ill: that's the latest poll. >> caller: it's time for us to go pay them a visit in washington en masse. not on the weekend. during the week when they're there. people who can't get to washington, you know, maybe other cities have rallies and people strike. it's time. they have crossed the line. i've had it. i want to get organized and do something. >> bill: i think that would be

great. i would love to see a massive march on the washington mall right on this issue jill. again. and let them look at -- let them look out right from the united states capitol building all the way down the mall as a million americans gather there to say we demand that you do the right thing. i hope somebody will take that -- i hope somebody will take that up. but in the meantime, you know, before people can get washington in person, you can certainly let your feelings be heard today. i would hope the phone lines today and the internet would just be flooded today with people expressing their outrage. look you can get this number. i daal all the time. it is 202-224-3121.

that is the switchboard for the united states capitol. you get in there. you can ask for any united states senator or any member of congress. 224-3121 and call them up and say i'm outraged, particularly take the time. look online. look in the morning paper, whatever. get the names of the 46 senators who voted no and call every one of them up. democrat and republican and just say how dare you! when we come back, the brady campaign. this whole thing started right after newtown. john from the brady campaign was in studio with us. he's their chief counsel head of the legal action project and he told us that one most important thing we could do, assault weapons was important high-capacity magazine clips are important. the one most important thing we could do would be background checks. that's been their sole focus. he'll join us in the next segment. we'll get his take on what happened yesterday. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill

press show." they thinking? you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

this show is about being up to date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely

about political grandstanding. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. belle it is, indeed. 13 minutes before the hour. the hall of shame. every one of those republicans and four democrats that voted no yesterday. i meant to salute her earlier. i gotta do it right now. a woman by the name of patricia meach. she's the woman who was in tucson arizona at that event

with gabby giffords and when the shooter opened fire, she knocked -- he tried to reload, put another magazine in and she knocked it out of his hand. knocked it away. she was in the senate gallery yesterday and when the vote was announced and the background checks were defeated, she hollered out shame on you! she, of course, was ushered out of the senate, out of the capitol by capitol police. but she showed more sense at that moment yesterday than any of the united states -- 46 senators who voted no. i mentioned john lloy from the brady center to prevent gun violence several months ago here in our studio told us the background checks, the single most important thing we could do to stem gun violence in this country. he joins us on our news line this morning. john, i don't know if there is any silver lining here. where do we go from here?

what can we do? is it all over? >> it's definitely not over. no question that this was a shameful act and really new low for congress. have an issue that 90% of the american people support and congress can't vote for it. when you had a-rated nra senators sponsoring legislation that is quite outrageous. it is certainly not over. the silver lining is something really extraordinary happened with this issue. the nra took it on, they gave it their best shot. they poured a lot of money and you know, their campaign. lies and intimidation. it certainly did work for a number of senators. >> bill: yeah. >> but it did not work for the american people. that's really extraordinary. when you see it on healthcare and a lot of other issues, when you have the lobbying campaigns it influences public opinion.

public support then goes down. people buy some of the misinformation. that didn't happen with this issue. public support remained completely solid. >> bill: what about this disconnect then between the united states congress and the american could congress and the american people? >> as sara brady told me and told americans for 20 years or so, if you can't change the laws, you have to change the lawmakers. and that's what we have to do. >> bill: it seems to me, will there be now a concerted effort on this issue against these people that voted no? >> i think there will be. i think that one, there will be a continued fight in the rest of this congress after next recess to have another go at it.

and to see it passed. one thing that is very different now is in addition to the brady campaign we've been at this fight for almost 40 years but we've got the mayors. mayor bloomberg did great work. we've got gabby giffords and mark kelly and you know, these other organizations that are bringing, you know, a lot of money and a lot of talent to join us. and then the mom's groups that formed in the wake of newtown. these people aren't going away. so we've got more people, more money, more public support than we ever have. and there is a disconnect. i've said for months, this is something where the american people have got it. politicians may not have it. i think you're going to see politicians going on offense on

this issue which they have not done in many many years. >> bill: let me ask you this. did the brady campaign support the manchin toomey compromise? it certainly was not perfect. it was not universal. but so did you support it? >> we did support it. we said in candor, it was not as good as universal background checks. but there's no question it was better than existing law. it required background checks for gun shows and for internet sales and other commercial-type sales that were not covered now. so there's no question it was an improvement. and manchin and toomey deserve a lot of credit. just as we -- all of us -- you know justly give shame and condemnation to the senators who

were cowards yesterday you know people like manchin and toomey who we certainly did not agree with deserve a tremendous amount of praise. >> bill: they raise the bar because they were a-rated senators so they had a lot of credibility on this issue. we know the fight doesn't end here john. as you point out the brady campaign, you've been there for a long, long time. more allies than ever before. so thank you for checking in this morning. keep up the good fight. come back in studio and tell us how we can all help next time you have a chance. >> definitely. thank you bill. >> bill: thanks. john lowey is the director of the legal action project at the brady center to prevent gun violence. it is bradycampaign.org. they do great work. a lot of leadership on this issue for a long time. bradycampaign.org. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: all right. good to hear from you and so glad that my outrage is shared by the vast majority of our viewers and listeners this morning. dick from boulder colorado, says what a disgrace the majority loses. how is that filibuster deal working out now mr. reid? we keep coming back to this. what a big mistake harry reid made when he did not either get

rid of or reform the filibuster when he had a chance to. should not need 60 votes on any issue, certainly not on this one ronald willis writes in hey bill, rand paul's complaint about the lobbying of the newtown parents made me want to vomit right in his face. >> bill: me, too. how dare he. i forgot it was rand paul. one of those who criticized the newtown parents. donald jackson from out in milwaukee, oregon, says i share your disgust. could the republicans in the senate be covering for the house republicans? you know, i don't think so. i just think they're cowards on their own. they're not covering for anybody. and sheryl says what do you know? the spinels wonders join the nra in defeating the legislation

that would authorize background checks. is she surprised? she's not. i guess none of us are.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning friends and neighbors. what do you say? welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. coming to you live from our nation's capital. the scene of a disgraceful shameful vote in the united states senate yesterday. that's most of what we're talking about today and taking your calls on the "full court press," you can join the conversation by phone at

1-866-55-press. we want to hear from you on twitter at bpshow. and here on facebook, be our friend on facebook. befriend us at facebook.com/billpressshow. send us your comment as president obama said yesterday a pretty shameful day here in washington, d.c. most shameful one i can remember in my lifetime in politics when 46 senators decided that they would rather stand with the gun lobby and the nra than stand with 20 beautiful kids murdered at sandy hook elementary school, stand with the six teachers who protected them tried to defend them and stand with the parents and the grieving families who came down to washington and begged senators to do the right thing. they refused. they would rather stand with the nra. no doubt who's responsible. 90% of democrats voted yes. 90 first of republicans -- 90% of republicans voted no. meanwhile up in boston, there seems to be a break in the

investigation. thanks to a new videotape. but don't believe cnn. nobody has been arrested! we'll cover both of those topics and more on current tv. >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

(vo) current tv is the place for compelling true stories. (kaj) jack, how old are you? >> nine. (adam) this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. way inside. (christoff) we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs bodies ... (adam) we're going to places where few others are going. [lady] you have to get out now. >> lots of terrible things happen to people growing marijuana. >> this crop to me is my livelihood. >> i'm being violated by the health care system. (christoff) we go and spend a considerablemount of time getting to know the people and the characters that are actually living these stories. (vo) from the underworld to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more

documentaries that are real, gripping, current. >> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. on current tv. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv. this is the brill press show. -- this is the "bill press show." >> bill: the nra wins and the american people lose. good morning everybody. what a shameful day indeed, as the president said in washington, d.c. as the senate voted down universal background checks by a vote of 54-46. it is thursday, april 18. this is the "full court press." welcome to the program here on

current tv. and on your local, progressive talk radio station. we're on the radio. we're on television. we're with you, everywhere in this great land of ours to bring you up to date on the news of the day and most importantly, to give you a chance to sound off about it and the phones have been going crazy this morning as well as twitter and facebook. because people are really upset about the lack of courage shown the total cowardice shown by 46 members of the united states senate yesterday. failing to meet the test -- the first test of leadership which is to do what the american people sent you there to do. to do the right thing. we've got it covered. we'll take your calls at 1-866-55-press. we'll take your comments on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. and there's news on many, many different fronts this morning. the fbi has announced they have arrested someone.

the suspect in those two ricin-laced letters one sent to the president of the united states. one sent to senator roger wicker from mississippi. neither one got close to their actual office. they were intercepted at post office screening centers outside of washington. but it was just some nut case who wanted to be heard and who writes a lot of letters to members of congress. i'm surprised we haven't gotten a couple of them here in studio. but at any rate, they've got him. and also, this morning overnight, we're getting news of a horrific explosion at a fertilizer plant out in texas. we're starting to stay on top of that. texas police are reporting there are some 170 people that were injured in this blast. and now reporting somewhere between 5 and 15 fatalities.

trooper d.l. wilson of the texas state police talked earlier about how bad it is. >> we have tremendous amount of injuries. probably over 100 injuries at this time. we do have confirmed fatalities. >> bill: yep again up to 170 injuries so far. just to put it in perspective it registered a 2.1 on the richter scale, that explosion and was felt 25 miles away. the trooper tells us, reminded everybody and maybe the same material as the bomb from oklahoma city. >> massive. just like iraq. just like the murrah building in oklahoma city. same kind of anhydrous exploded. so you can imagine what kind of damage we're look at there. >> bill: remember it took the entire facade of the alfred p.

murrah building in oklahoma city. team press assembled, ready to serve you. peter ogborn and dan henning. >> bill, good morning. >> bill: alichia cruz is ready to take your calls and cyprian bowlding is here as always on the video cam. not will be. he's here. >> bill: indeed. we've got some great guests coming up for you. senator chris coons from my home state of delaware will be here in studio with us. at the half hour of this hour. in the next hour, jamal simmons will be here as our "friend of bill." and karen bass from my adopted state of california. former speaker of the california assembly will be in studio with us as well. we've got a lot to get to and bring you up to date on the boston and cnn's embarrassing moment yesterday. but first... what have you got dan? >> in sports, even with kobe bryant out with an injury, the stars align for the l.a. lakers

to make the nba playoffs last night. they beat the houston rockets in overtime and the utah jazz lost to the memphis grizzlies to secure the lakers' spot. a lot of people had counted the lakers out because of cobie's injury but they're moving on to play the san antonio spurs in the first round. >> bill: i think there was somebody in this studio -- >> go, spurs go. >> bill: that counted the lakers out like on the air. i think i remember hearing that. >> i said early in the season -- you're right. i said this early in the season. >> bill: the other day you said kobe bryant was out so therefore -- >> they won't make it past the playoffs. [ laughter ] >> politician over here. >> bill: back backtracking here. >> as the annual white house correspondents' dinner gets closer, instead of the buzz increasing, it is sort of fizzling out. people are talking about how this year's event is going to be way more subdued than in years past. the hill is reporting that two major participants from last

year the hollywood reporter and funny or i don't.com will not be throwing parties this year. several high-profile celebrities have announced they aren't coming. filming they may have fatigue because of the inauguration. >> bill: what a shocker that the white house correspondents' dinner might focus on the white house correspondents and the politicians that they cover which is supposed to be what it is all about. >> that's a good point. >> people have gotten sick and tired of the b.s. guests and celebrities. >> this is actually a good thing. >> bill: i think so. >> carnival cruise lines is implementing a plan to make its ships more reliable. so they say. >> bill: i still won't take one. >> "usa today" saying they want to prevent what happened to the carnival triumph in the

gulf of mexico so they're spending $300 million on all 24 of their cruise ships maintenance. they'll enhance emergency and fire suppression capabilities. >> bill: they couldn't pay me to take a carnival cruise. >> i can't imagine any circumstance in which i would get on to a carnival cruise. >> bill: i would rather go on a disney cruise than a carnival cruise but i wouldn't go on either one. i hate those damn cruise boats. here we go. let's go back to boston and bring us up to date on what we have learned by the way. and letting the investigators do their job which most people in the media don't seem to want to do or at least a lot of people in the media. but they've been at it. painstakingly. imagine -- imagine how much videotape exists of the scene there at the finish of the

boston marathon. from cell phones, from the tv crews that were on the scene and from the surveillance cameras on the scene. and from helicopters overhead. just tons of it. they had to go through it all. imagine that whole scene that street scene where they've had to comb every square inch on the sidewalk, on the street, on top of the buildings all around, right? they managed to find out that these two bombs were, as we know in pressure cookers pressure cooker bombs. they were carried to the scene in black nylon carrier either a backpack or duffel bag. then yesterday they scored when a videotape taken from lord & taylor department store look across the street shows a man wearing a heavy backpack who puts it down and then runs away

and leaves it there and they think that's the guy. and they are based on that, trying to now focus in and see if they can get some identification, anything that would lead them to that suspect. all of that is good news but the media is just -- it is just embarrassing. first of all at yesterday's briefing started with the first whole round of questions to jay carney was why do we have them yet? and the president must really be disappointed. he must really be frustrated because we don't have a -- nobody's been arrested yet. there's no suspect yet. why isn't there and what's wrong with the police? the president told his people they've got to do a better job to find this guy. jay carney said wait, it hasn't even been 48 hours guys, hold your horses. here's the problem with this 24 hour news cycle we're in today particularly because of cable

news, they want to cover it wall to wall and they have to have something happen and if nothing's happening, then they have to make something happen. so the briefing was bad enough. i leave the briefing and then i learn that it's not just the people in the briefing but the reporters on the scene are trying to make things happen and cnn is in a big rush to be number one and this is what they come up with breaking news. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> wolf, we have information an arrest has been made. in the investigation. >> suspect that was identified has now been arrested. >> i was told by boston law enforcement source, we got him. >> bill: we got him. an arrest has been made. did you hear that? there are reports that an arrest may have been made? no. there are reports they may have identified a suspect. no. an arrest has been made. john king not only -- he goes beyond that.

this guy is still the mystery guy who doesn't exist but john king can already describe him. >> federal law enforcement source says an arrest has been made based on two different images, a video enhavensment showed a dark-skinned male placing the package at the second explosion site and backing away. >> bill: gotta be a dark-skinned male because white people never do -- >> no bombings. >> bill: never never never plant bombs. white people never use assault weapons toes as a nate others. it is always the dark-skinned people that do it. jesus. >> as soon as i heard that and i assumed that they were right that they had made an arrest, i thought why would you put that out there? even if it had been made, why wouldn't you wait? it was dumb. >> bill: shame on cnn but also fox news picked it up. shame on them.

"the boston globe" fell for this. reported an arrest had been made. associated press reported an arrest had been made. that's where i saw the headline on associated press. arrest #made. and then within an hour or so, john king has to go on cnn and start backing down. >> this federal law enforcement source communicated -- anyone who said an arrest, is ahead of themselves. >> bill: maybe at that point john king should have said we were wrong. he didn't. it was up to jon stewart doing the great job he always does last night to really blister cnn for their exclusive coverage. >> as one of their competitors we get a little jealous. [ laughter ] of these kinds of exclusives. [ laughter ] although we soon learned there

was a very good reason why this was exclusive. [ laughter ] >> there's been no arrest and in fact, a suspect has not been identified by name yet. >> oh, it's exclusive because it was completely [ bleep ] wrong! [ laughter ] that's why -- [ applause ] >> bill: that's why it was exclusive. they got a lot of egg on their face this morning over at cnn. again, not just at cnn fox and everybody else who went with it. you know what? the senator from connecticut wasn't it yesterday chris murphy, right? who said here's my advice to the media. just chill. just calm your jets. just slow down. and let the investigators, let the fbi let the city police, let them do their job.

i think they've made incredible progress so far in a very, very difficult investigation. remember with oklahoma city, the only reason they got timothy mcveigh so soon was because they caught him on a traffic violation just happened to -- he happened to get stopped -- had a taillight out and a police officer discovered a concealed weapon he didn't have a right to carry so they held him and did a check and they found out boom, he had rented a ryder truck bingo. they got him. that was a lucky break. they'll get this guy in boston but we need to let them do their job and not try to rush it and not try to make it happen. you got 24 hours to fill. talk about the garden show or something. but don't make crap up! it is not -- that's not doing your job. you said it earlier what's the first rule, peter that i

learned? >> better to be right than to be first. you know. >> bill: it is basic but it is very important. >> people aren't going to care if you have the scoop 10 minutes before the competition they'll care that you got it right. they'll remember that you got it right and if you got it wrong. they won't remember if you had it minutes before someone else. >> bill: of course, a lot of people pointed out also cnn who reported rushed to report that the supreme court had overturned obamacare when, in fact, just the opposite had happened. here we go. beat up on the media time. 1-866-55-press. join the fun. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the

drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv.

(vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

>> bill: senator chris coons will be with us in the next segment for the next half hour. as we mentioned an arrest has been made in the case of the ricin letters. again, media reporting incorrectly that there was some connection between the boston bombings and these letters received. one to the president and one to roger wicker laced with ricin. there was absolutely zero connection. but the man arrested was identified as paul kevin curtis of core inith mississippi. he goes by the name of kevin curtis and on his mail, he actually put in both letters he

said i am kc and i approve this message. he writes a lot of letters apparently to the white house and members of congress. it was not hard to track him down. >> he's also an elvis impersonator by the way. he's a janitor who impersonates elvis. >> bill: he will be able to entertain his fellow inmates. >> we learned just a few days ago that mark san terd had been charged with trespassing when he tried to watch the super bowl with his son at his ex-wife's house when she was away. not a good story for mr. sanford. it is so bad in fact, that the national republicans, the congressional campaign committee for them has pulled the plug on any kind of money that they're giving to the sanford campaign in south carolina. >> bill: yeah. pretty bad when your own party pulls the rug out from under you. throws you under the bus as we say. >> he was already underperforming. they thought he was -- that a republican could do better in

that district and he's not doing very well and this, they think might be the nail in the coffin. >> bill: i hate tonight defender of mark sanford but i do have to point out, the facts are this was super bowl day his wife was not at home. his son was home watching the game by himself and mark sanford went to his former home and watched the super bowl game with his son. i think, in this case, the lady is out of bounds and the lady is just getting revenge on her husband. it may work. >> it might work. >> bill: but in this case, i have to side with mark sanford and not with jenny sanford. i think that mark sanford, i would suggest that he go public with a news conference and let me see. i'm just trying to think how many words? he ought to just repeat the immortal words of marion barry the bitch set him up. it worked for marion barry.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: it is 33 minutes after the hour now on this thursday, april 18. pretty sad day in washington, d.c. for many of us because the senate had a test of spine, if we can put it this way yesterday and they failed the test. one who passed the test joins us in studio this morning. my good friend and our good senator from my home state of

delaware senator chris coons. good to see you this morning. >> great to be with you again bill. >> bill: i want to set the tone. this is president obama late yesterday afternoon in the rose garden. first referring -- surrounded by some of the members of the -- family members from newtown connecticut and gabby giffords at his side. joe biden on the other side. >> home state, joe biden. >> bill: referring to the fact that some senators, including rand paul, criticized the newtown families for daring come to washington to let their points of view be heard. >> obama: do we really think thousands of families whose lives have been shattered by gun violence don't have a right to weigh in on this issue? do we think their emotions, their loss is not relevant to this debate? so all in all, this was a pretty shameful day for washington. >> bill: you could hear the

anger in his voice. senator, you had dinner with the president last night. with a couple of other -- few other democratic senators at the jefferson hotel. what was his mood like? >> at the outset, it was a very somber dinner. he gave us an update on the investigations in boston. he gave us an update there had been an arrest in the case of the man who sent a ricin letter up to the hill. he was very appropriately frustrated and angry about the outcome of the vote. we talked concretely about that. much of the rest of the dinner changed tone. we talked about budget. we talked about the immigration bill. we talked about a number of other things. i can't get into the specifics but it was a reminder of why i am proud to work so closely with the president on some very important issues. we don't always agree on everything but frankly, he was a focused, competent capable inspiring leader last night who was very upset about the outcome in the senate as should all americans be. the nra, in my view and many of

the republicans in the senate, misled people about the provisions of the manchin toomey bill. this was a bipartisan bill. it was one that had one of the most conservative republicans in the senate, pat toomey signed on to it. several others, john mccain, voted for this. it was really striking that on this difficult and emotional issue where we had survivors of tucson and the newtown families, all over the hill. meeting with anyone who would meet with them, we had them in the gallery. watching this vote. one of the tucson survivors actually a woman who helped disarm the shooter in tucson, shouted out "shame on you"! as the vote went down. it was a somber and difficult moment in the senate. bill, i want to make sure we also remind folks that a piece of the dynamic of this vote was that it was well and widely known. it was dead on arrival in the house. the fact that the republican-controlled house would likely not have even taken up this universal background check measure this modest,

bipartisan universal background check measure supported by nearly 90% of americans, the fact that the republican house would have refused to take it up, i think also drove some of this disappointing shameful dynamic in the vote in the senate. >> bill: senator, you came here a couple of years ago i remember going to an event in bloomington, delaware with president obama flew up on air force i there at the opera house when you were running and so you haven't been -- you came here to do the right thing for the people of delaware, for the people of this country. i think probably came here with some confidence and hope that your fellow senators would want to do the right thing. so how did it strike you yesterday to sit there and watch this at 90% of the american people support go down. >> it's really frustrating. it angers me. it makes me ashamed of the institution as a whole. it just has failed to function. a point was made this morning in another show that if this was

the way that the senate had functioned in 1965, after the selma bridge, the bloody sunday, then the voting rights act would have been filibustered and a sort of hard-eyed minority would have prevented any progress on access to voting. that was a similarly shocking, shameful incident that mobilized our nation. newtown really changed people's minds and votes and there were a number of democrats and republicans who were from heavily pro gun states who were nra life members who had "a" ratings, joe manchin who stood up the next day and said my, my has changed. we need to close the gun show loophole stop allowing the sale of guns over the internet. we need to stop being a country where access to guns is also unlimited. we have to enforce the laws and strengthen the laws on gun trafficking. i was convinced we would easily come to an agreement and pass that. >> bill: right. >> there were other things that i also voted for such as a ban

on large magazine clips. the woman who shouted out at us from the gallery last night actually seized the clip, the large clip that was being used by jared loughner to kill people in tucson. the little girl, christina taylor green, who was killed in tucson, who had gone to visit gabby giffords, her father is from delaware, from wilmington, delaware. >> bill: i didn't know that. >> she was on national tv last night just expressing her disappointment her horror that we couldn't pass a ban on large magazine clips, for example. i thought several of these provisions would pass last night. but obviously they didn't. that's very disappointing. i also want to clarify for those who are listening, the manchin toomey bill is not over. it is simply laid on the table. if there is a strong enough national response, it could be picked up and passed. but we would have to move several votes that are going to be tough to move and will only move with strong engagement. >> bill: that was my next question.

whether this is dead. we know that harry reid voted no and he voted no for procedural reasons. always works that way in the senate so that therefore he has the ability to bring it back up. >> that's right. >> bill: over and above harry reid. four democrats did vote no. you know who they are. we have mentioned them. max baucus, mark pryor heidi heitkamp and mark begich. four republicans broke ranks and voted with 50 democrats, i guess. susan collins, john mccain, pat toomey, the author of the compromise and mark kirk from -- >> illinois. >> bill: from illinois, right. but 90% of democrats voted for it and except for those four, 90% of republicans voted against it. >> this was close to a straight-line party vote. there were profiles in courage here in folks who crossed party linings. arizona is no liberal state.

for john mccain to take this on for pat toomey who is a very conservative senator i think was brave. obviously susan collins mark kirk deserve a great credit. senator kirk was one of the original cosponsors of this bill. and it is a -- it is not a progressive vision of gun control and gun registration. in fact, it has some very tough provisions to absolutely ensure there isn't a national gun registry. it makes it a felony for any federal official to keep records of gun tran actions and create a registry. for me to be presiding, i was presiding -- >> bill: you were? >> from 3:00 to 4:00 until the vice president came to preside over the vote. to hear republican senators on the floor denounce this as a democrat bill that would inevitably create a national gun registry was -- i think shameful. it directly misrepresented the context and the content of the bill. senator manchin leapt to his feet. he could barely control himself. he kept trying to interrupt

senator cruz of texas. but you're wrong. that's not true! they got into quite an exchange about the actual impact. >> bill: as the president pointed out yesterday the nra lied about this. what's interesting, senator is they did lie about it because the existing law from 1994 presents creation of pro registry. we've had background checks at gun dealers since then without any -- >> national registry. >> bill: ever being created. the manchin toomey bill contains legislation that would prohibit that. they lied about it. >> it would criminalize any step toward creating -- >> it would make it a felony for a federal official to keep data about gun transactions as the beginning steps toward creating a national registry. >> bill: so they lied. they did not convince the american people. the american people didn't buy the lie. but 46 senators bought the lie. does that just show how powerful the nra is and how much money they pump into these campaigns? >> i think it shows you've got a lot of senators who are very concerned. very afraid of direct mail

campaigns, on the ground campaigns, that they would likely face from the nra which successfully mobilizes a lot of people particularly and predominantly rural states, particularly in very strong sort of gun rights states. they still have a lot of clout. >> bill: you say this isn't dead. it could come back. what's it going to take? what can our viewers our listeners do? >> lots of the senate offices are going to be keeping score of how many phone calls and letters they get. and frankly in some cases the most potent thing to do is to have people go to offices and visit their senator and say how disappointed they are to write a letter to their district offices and i get a count every week of e-mails and phone calls. we look at that. on every major issue. i actually send about 5,000 letters a month to delawareens who have written or e-mailed or

called. if you send a letter, a written letter to a washington, d.c. office, it will take three weeks before it actually gets to the senator because of this recent incident, because of security purposes. so, you know, send an e-mail, make a phone call, send a letter to your home state, district office. but absolutely. let them know you're frustrate and upset. let them know that you support universal background checks that allow us to stop making it possible for convicted felons, for rapists for those who have been convicted of domestic violence to easily get their hands on weapons. it doesn't make sense. >> bill: certainly they can do at any gun show or over the internet. those 46 senators, you can easily find their names everywhere online and in the newspaper this morning. or wherever and make sure they hear from us, hear from you. disappointed in the vote yesterday and urge them and plead them and demand that they change their minds. this bill will be back. senator chris coons with us. when we come back, maybe there

might be better news on immigration. let's hope. we'll talk about that coming up here on the "full court press." >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. his ability, is trying to look out for us. going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look

(vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: 12 minutes before the top of the hour. it is called the blue hen state. the state of delaware. the two great senators, tom carper and chris coons

representing people of delaware and serving all americans. senator chris coons in studio with us this morning. so senator as grim as the vote yesterday and the outlook is on gun safety, immigration looks like it has a better chance. am i reading it wrong? >> i'm optimistic about the prospects for a comprehensive immigration reform bill. yesterday morning the democratic steering and outreach committee on which i serve invited about 25 folks from around the country anna velazquez joined us. but the heads of many important national advocacy organizations. everything from mexican-american legal defense education fund to united farm workers folks representing the lgbt community, the farm worker community. the high school immigration sector, the head of the aclu, very broad group of advocates and activists from around the country met with roughly 20 u.s.

senators to talk over the details of the bill, to talk over -- >> bill: this is the gang of eight bill? >> the gang of eight bill. the democrats who were responsible for crafting some of the most important pieces were there. senator menendez, senator schumer, senator bennett senator durbin and spoke about exactly what the details are. it is an 844 page bill that had been released at 2:00 a.m. that morning so no one had really seen the language in the bill in great detail. but broadly folks were very happy with the compromises that were struck. there are provisions in the bill that, of course, we wouldn't write on our own if we got to pass a democrat-only bill, there's billions and billions of dollars, additional to be spent on some areas that, perhaps wouldn't be as high a priority. we already spend more money on border security than we spend on atf, fbi and d.e.a. combined. >> bill: really? >> still will dedicate another $4 or $5 billion -- >> bill: they have this fixation on border security.

>> the senators essentially said this is a price we have to pay to get this bill done. but as senator menendez said pointedly, in order to get to a place where for 11 million people in this country there is a clear and predictable and hopefully fair pathway toward earned citizenship where there is a fine they have to pay. they have to learn english and be employed. pass through a number of hurdles. it can take more than a decade. there is a path toward legalization. they can come out of the shadows. they can participate in the legal economy and pay taxes. be full and open and public pickly contributing members of society and there is a faster pathway than that for dream act students. for those who have been here since they were children and have earned degrees or served in the armed forces. he was very excited about that. he really did not think he would see the day when we had four republicans strongly defending the bill who were working hard for it. i think senator rubio deserves some real credit for taking to

the airways, for pressing forward. on conservative talk radio. what happened the last time, there was a comparably broad bill, it was killed. got pulled apart. chairman lee, he will hold hearings this friday and next monday about the bill in the judiciary committee. i have some areas where i would like to strengthen it. where i would like to see it. more progressive both in the due process rights area and in lgbt% community concern about family unification. but broadly i'm quite happy with the bill. i'm going to support it. >> i want to come back to the gun vote to ask you one other question about it. that is, again, we get to a point with an important vote and you don't need a majority, you need 60 votes. >> that's right. >> bill: the failure to reform the filibuster is going to come back to haunt us -- has already. >> it just did. that's right. on judges, on filling judicial vacancies, on getting to important legislation like the manchin/toomey universal

background check bill. and quite possibly, on important provisions within the immigration bill. if there's going to be improvements refinements, it will have to happen in committee. on the floor getting anything done. we are regretting not making changes to the filibuster. >> bill: you were one of the senators pushing for the changes. it keeps coming back and biting us in the ass basically. i hope we remember that lesson two years from now. i will make that statement. you don't have to. senator chris coons, it is good of you to come by this morning. thank you so much for your leadership in many areas. we count on you to continue to take good care of delaware. delaware city in particular, soft spot for my hometown. i know you are looking out for us. thanks, senator cooks. nice to see you. >> thank you bill. always good to be here. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv.

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on current tv. >> bill: jamal simmons here as a "friend of bill" with congresswoman from california in the next hour. >> "boston globe" is reporting authorities have clear video images of the two suspects. there are two suspects in the boston marathon bombings. they're going to release the images today to the public to see if anybody can help lead to those men. two suspects now. they have clear video images. we'll be seeing their faces later on today. >> bill: the decision as john miller pointed out on cbs yesterday that they were wrestling with was whether to

release the images so therefore the people might see oh, my god they know who we are and flee or release the images so the rest of the people can see who they are and say hey, i know that guy. and they wrestle with that yesterday, decided not to release them. so today -- >> they're pointing out this is not the footage from the lord & tar loy cam. they got better, clearer pictures and those are the ones we'll be seeing. >> bill: two people. the president's schedule today is basically consumed with one event. about 20 minutes from now, he and the first lady will leave the white house, chopper out to andrews air force base. go to boston. the president will be speaking and delivering remarks at the healing our city and interfaith service dedicated to those gravely wounded or killed in monday's bombing near the finish line of the boston marathon. be back at the white house late this afternoon to host a reception for greek independence

day. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning everybody. and welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. good to see you this morning. it is a -- good to see you but it is a bad day in washington, d.c. when we see the senate in a horrific act of cowardice, failed to meet the test yesterday failed to do the right thing failed to do what the american people demand and what the american people want and what this country needs. i think we ought to pack them up

and send the whole bunch of them home. a total waste of time. it is the "full court press." you can give us your comments at 1-866-55-press. you can join us on facebook. be our friend on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. send us your comments on twitter also at bpshow. yes, indeed. the president yesterday called it a pretty shameful day in washington, d.c. when 46 senators decide that they would rather stand with the nra, stand with the gun lobby stand with the gun manufacturers than stand with 20 poor little first graders gunned down in newtown, massachusetts, the six teachers who defended them and the parents grieving parents who came to washington, demanding, pleading with the senate to do the right thing. as to who's responsible, no doubt about it. 90% of democrats voted for background checks. 90% of republicans voted against it. breaking news from boston that

they've now identified two -- images of two suspects in that bombing. we'll tell you more about it here on current tv. criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern

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>> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. on current tv. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: big victory for the nra, a big loss for the american people. i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> bill: what's going on. is the president really upset? has he scolded everybody because they don't -- they didn't find him yet? jay carney said it has been less than 48 hours, you know. >> i think governor deval patrick was absolutely on point on this. when you're building a case that's so complicated about something that's so big and not just getting an arrest but getting an arrest for somebody who actually committed the crime and you can prove committed the crime in court. they've got a lot of work to do. >> bill: let them take their

time. cnn was in too big of a hurry. they didn't let them take their time yesterday. they have all of this time to fill so they say if the authorities are not going to make an arrest, we will! here's cnn. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> wolf, we have information an arrest has been made. in the investigation. >> the suspect that was identified has now been arrested. >> i was told by a boston law enforcement source, we've got him. >> bill: they identified him they arrested, we've got him. not only that, jamal the mystery man suspect who doesn't exist who hasn't been arrested, john king can even identify him for you. >> federal law enforcement source says an arrest has been made based on two different videos video enhancement showed a dark-skinned male placing the package at the second explosion site and backing around. >> of course jamal had to be a dark-skinned male because he did something wrong. white people never plant bombs. >> could have had a tan.

>> isn't that so classic? >> even when we thought that that news was right that they had arrested somebody, i said what -- why would he even say that? why would you put that out there in the way that he put it out there? >> what's clear -- i shouldn't say it is clear but what seems -- >> bill: either muslim or black. >> someone told them that. maybe two or three people told them that. so the question is one editorial problem at cnn. they have to sort of figure out in their news judgment. two, there is a problem with what the source is. who are all of these people who thought something was happening? were they on the way to get someone and then they stopped? did they have a suspect and then people got out ahead of that and went too far, too fast? it is a little patience and kind of -- everybody needs to hold on tight a little bit. just slow it down. >> you talk about sources. cnn said our sources were wrong. our sources were wrong. they tried to blame the sources. other people had sources that

john miller and cbs -- >> bill: pete williams -- >> at nbc. >> he nailed it yesterday. >> bill: he did. they both had sources. they both were saying no suspect. no arrest. don't believe it! >> they had a woman on air with them yesterday who kept saying i think we should slow down on this. i'm not sure that's really happening. julie, juliet from massachusetts. she kept trying to walk them back and they kept saying no, no no, we've got this. >> bill: they had francis townsend, national security, going right along with john king. >> it was a mess. >> bill: 13 minutes after the hour. congresswoman karen bass from california coming along a little bit later here to join jamal simmons and me. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this thursday, former senator richard lugar just call him sir richard lugar. the indiana republican was knighted at the british embassy

in washington yesterday. according to the hill, under the direction of the queen to become an honorary knight commander of the most excellent order of the british empire. british ambassador bestow the honor on behalf of the queen saying it was for the former senator's leadership on foreign affairs and his work to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. >> that will get girls in the bar. >> bill: it is a good pickup line. did you know i'm a knight? you can call me sir. >> exactly. >> a big change is coming to the budweiser beer can. starting in may, the white and red can will start coming in the shape of a bow tie to evoke the brand's traditional red bow tie graphic. the aluminum will be stronger and have a ten degree indentation in the can as you grip it. budweiser is not getting rid of normal cans and bottles. they're adding it to their production line because they're always looking to add new trends for what younger beer drinkers

might be looking for. >> bill: i think it means there will be less beer. >> it is an 11.2 ounce can instead of a 12 ounce can. >> bill: i knew it. it puts a dent in. >> good math there bill but they're keeping the regular 12 ounce can. >> people will vote with their bellies. >> their beer bellies. this is called putting lipstick on a pig. at the end of the day, it is still budweiser. >> bill: exactly. mini brew beer. >> golden state warriors guard -- >> dog fish? i do like that stuff. in sports, golden state warriors -- >> that's exactly what's going on. >> bill: have a few this morning. sorry. we were disrupting. >> in sports, golden state warriors guard steven curry made nba history last night. he broke the record for the most three-point shots in a season. he hit number 269 and number 270

against the portland trailblazers last night. he topped ray allen's record set back in 2005. >> bill: thank you dan. jamal, i need your help this morning. i've been around politics a little bit longer than you have. been around a long time. i had a lot of ups and downs. a lot of downs but throughout it all, all of the disappointments i kept my faith in the political system. still a believer, right? no longer. >> sucker! >> bill: that vote yesterday in the senate, it really threw me. if they can't get that right they can't get anything right. why should they believe in these guys anymore when 90% of the american people say this is what we want, this is what we need and the senate says hell, we don't care. we would rather go with the gun lobby. >> it is broken.

if you're a senator from north dakota or a republican from alaska or someplace what you care about is not what 90% of americans believe. what you care about is what do the voters who will vote in a primary against me versus a more conservative candidate, what do they believe? that's a much smaller population. i don't care about the population. i care about my state's voters, the republican voters and the republicans who show up in an off-year cycle primary. i remember sitting in meetings with people and you gotta drill it down. it makes for very tough politics. you start looking around. what we've done is we've turned each and every one of these members of congress and senators into kind of a political entrepreneur. the parties don't fund them anymore. the big institutions don't -- what they get is they have to go out as entrepreneurs and find their own funding figure out who their market is and put it all together and so you've got somebody like wayne lapierrre sitting in the nra who is saying

i'm -- i've got $1 million for your state. i'm going to spend it for you or against you. which one do you want? i think people make some tough decisions. so what we've got to do is figure out -- >> bill: so what happens to the american people? >> they get screwed. >> we've got to find some leverage points in the congress. we got rid of earmarks on behalf of good government. what getting rid of earmarks did is it meant president of the united states or minority leader couldn't say you know what, bill press, you're not voting along with the way things need to go. no more bridges in your district. no more post offices for your constituents. and we've taken the power away from the leadership and i think you know, it is one of the biggest mistakes on behalf of good government is erasing the power of the majority to be able to hand out a few little favors and take them away from people

because they're losing leverage. >> bill: i want to focus -- let's not lose focus right? the republican party i put most of the blame on the republican party for this. four republicans who broke ranks, god love them. god bless them. i give them full credit for that. >> susan collins and john mccain and okay, pat toomey, of course. then mark kirk from illinois. four democrats went the other way. i don't want to focus on them necessarily. you mention north dakota. heidi heitkamp just got elected. just got six years before she faces the voters again. >> that's the tough one. >> bill: she voted no. she's a good person. i like her. >> someone told me yesterday if we had gotten begich from alaska, we probably would have gotten mickowski. that didn't happen. there are some of these that are important. mary landrieu who people didn't think would show up. she showed up and voted the

right way. we've got to make sure we single out people like mary, senator landrieu. >> bill: they're calling it the hall of shame. identify the 46 and people really put pressure on the 46. >> absolutely. >> bill: harry reid kept the bill alive under a procedural vote of his voting no so he can bring it back. and close enough. but you talk about another mistake. another seems to me royal mistake was we didn't get rid of the filibuster when we should have. or reform the filibuster. right? it is going to come back and bite us in the ass. >> pretty tough market every time to get 60 votes to pass common sense legislation. i don't understand why we didn't do this. i think what rand paul did when he stood on the floor of the senate and argued his case for a day and a half or 18 hours 12 hours, however long it was that's what you ought to do. that's what the filibuster is for. if you believe something so

strongly that you want to stand against over 50% of the united states senate, you should have to stand your butt on the floor of the senate and argue that in front of your colleagues as long as you can hold up and get other people to hold up. if you can't do that, you don't deserve to stand in the way. >> bill: the problem is we democrats have rolled over and let them do a virtual filibuster and say no, on this, we announce at filibuster. you need 60 votes. rather than making them do that, because, okay, we need 60 votes. >> guns are a big deal. you know what else is a big deal that's not happening because of the filibuster? the judges. we do not have a democrat appointment to the appeals court in washington, d.c., the most important appeals court in the country because we can't get anybody passed the 60 vote threshold. about four empty seats and barack obama is the first president in recent memory who hasn't been able to appoint his own judge to the u.s. appeals court in d.c. >> bill: democracy. you thought it still existed?

out the window in the u.s. senate anyway. jamal simmons here in studio with us. join us. our outrage at 1-866-55-press. we'll hear your own coming up. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv

audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go. 26 minutes after the hour. congresswoman karen bass from southern california. joining us here in studio. jamal simmons here as a "friend of bill" this hour. democratic strategist and we're talking, focusing on that very disappointing, shameful vote

yesterday. peter comments -- >> couple of quick comments on the gun vote yesterday. one person pointing out after we talked to senator cooks in the last hour of the show, if you want to get in touch with your legislature, call, visit other e-mail. don't send a letter. it will take too long. >> bill: we've learned the last couple of days, letters -- >> letters aren't going to cut it. >> mama for obama says heidi heitkamp put money over the lives of children. the blood of the next massacre. she will have to live with it. on twitter at bpshow. >> bill: i want to talk about the -- >> telegrams. can you imagine if we flooded the hill with telegrams? >> bill: e-mail. i hope the internet just breaks down today getting -- people expressing their outrage. >> send a tweet. they're all on twitter now. >> bill: hall of shame the 46 senators. jamal, there were four democrats

who voted sadly against the background checks. four republicans voted for it. and good for them. when you look at it, there's no doubt, this was a republican party. voted en masse with the nra. 90% of republicans. >> exactly. i think joe manchin said this yesterday. we have 90% of democrats. all they needed were nine republicans. nine republicans. they couldn't get nine. that is a disgrace. that is a disgrace. >> bill: even with do your math. if four democrats voted no, had voted yes, it would still would have been two votes short. they still needed republicans and republicans wouldn't do it. because they're too behold ton the nra. >> we'll see if they pay the price. for all of the bloomberg forces and other folks out there, you are going to have to beat ssh on this issue. >> bill: we know who they are. 46. go after them.

karen bass joining us next. >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right, you got it. 33 minutes after the hour here on the "full court press" this thursday morning. april 18. well, what a shameful day for washington, d.c. but for me, it has been a good day because you know, i was born in delaware and my senator chris coons was here in the last hour and then i moved to california and made california my adoptive state. i consider myself a californian today and here in studio with

us former speaker of the california assembly, now california congresswoman from the 37th district, karen bass in studio with us. i get both states today. i love it. hi karen. >> good to be back on. >> bill: thank you. jamal simmons good friend here as a "friend of bill" this hour. jamal, always good to have you on board. >> bill: congresswoman yesterday, jamal and i have been talking about this very disappointing, to say the least, vote in the united states senate where background checks supported by 90% of the american people, the law of the land in california -- >> absolutely. >> bill: for gun shows as well as gun dealers has this created any big registry and people's guns being taken away in california? >> absolutely not. i'm proud to say california has very strict gun laws but you know, as you know, we do still have a problem. and the idea that they would not

vote for this when not only does 90% of the u.s. public support it, a large number if not majority may support it. i join with the president in saying that it was a shameful day. >> bill: then you had to do an -- toomey and manchin who forge this compromise. showing you know, maybe there is a little hope for some -- after all, for some bipartisanship in the senate. shot down. dashed yesterday. >> exactly. exactly. their next test will be immigration and so i'm certainly hoping that they'll come back at this. it failed yesterday. it doesn't mean it can't come up for a vote again. there were many senators that took major risks. they were also, you know, democrats. who are up for re-election next year. who took that hard vote. and so i'm hoping the other ones will reconsider. >> bill: mary landrieu pops in mind. >> she's exactly who i was

thinking of. >> bill: i would understand if she had voted the other way. senator cooks told us that mary landrieu told him look, i voted for obamacare because it is the right thing to do. and i'm going to vote for the background checks because it is the right thing to do. >> i actually work very close with them. i work close with senator cooks on african-related issues and senator landrieu on foster care and adoption issues and so i know them well. i know that that was tough for her to do. but everybody will be behind her. >> bill: really, interested in getting your perspective so this vote, we saw the vote in the senate. we saw that 90% of republicans in the senate voted no. clearly. more interested in the nra and the gun lobby than the parents of newtown. poor little kids lost their lives. but if that bill had gotten through the senate and come to the house, it would not necessarily have received a welcome reception from the republican leadership in the

house. >> well, there you go. i really think that speaker boehner has really kind of abdicated his leadership to the senate. he lets the senate lead now. and then we'll get a bill and i don't know what's going to happen with it. and that's going to come up very soon. well, maybe not. depending on what immigration happens, it might pass the senate. the only way things are going to pass in the house is if he lets go of the hastert rule and says hey, we need to govern. it is not just about protesting and being against everything. if i can get a few members of my party and combine them with democrats, that's certainly the way we did it in california. i don't understand why he adheres to that policy. >> how many times do you think he can do that and keep his speakership? the feeling outside of the house, for those of us who observe it is that he is on tenter hooks here, he's barely walking the line to keep control of it. do you detect any notion of

revolts of people -- >> i don't. i think we saw the revolt in january. and i think frankly anybody in their right mind -- actually it was an incredible embarrassment. he couldn't get the votes to be speaker. we were literally sitting on the floor watching them go out in the hall and grab their members who were refusing to vote. so i think if there was going to be a revolt. look at it this way. who would want to be speaker right now? they would rather wait until things are a little better. i don't think the speakership is in danger. [ laughter ] >> that's a good point. >> bill: i think on the gun bill, he had said we'll see what the senate does. on immigration. we'll see what the senate does. not even committing to holding a vote. >> because he can't make that commitment. if he made that commitment, then you essentially -- not that they want to take over. but you essentially give the

disobedient boys a platform. and so i don't think that he will do that too early. >> bill: what's sad is this passes for leadership today in washington. look back at some of the great leaders that we've had right. who really took some chances and worked to bring people together. >> look at the leadership of speaker pelosi. and how much was passed and what was done. >> bill: in that first -- obama administration. do you see -- maybe a better chance because of the political political -- let's see realities facing the republican party? a better chance on immigration? >> well, i do think there is a better chance on immigration. i think at one point they have to decide which one are they going to do. i think when the republicans woke up the day after the election and realized latinos voted, i think that they -- >> bill: hello! did they ever!

>> i think they had to come to grips with that reality. and so i think there is a better chance on immigration. we'll just have to wait and see. i sit on judiciary. i sat through, as a matter of fact, our first hearing was about immigration and it went on all day long. and what was very clear that day was that they could handle immigration reform up to citizenship. we will make you legal residents but we just can't go that far. i think donald trump was the one who told the truth. he went to the cpac conference. what did he say? he said 11 million democrats. [ laughter ] >> that's right. that's the part people forget about. these people are thinking about their own political future. what happens when you add the democratic voting citizens into the rolls. they're done. there's no way they can compete. >> if they think for one minute that if we solve immigration that's going to mean there will be this big tidal wave of latinos coming to the republican party, latinos are concerned about issues other than

immigration and the same issues that the latino population is concerned about are the very thing that paul ryan wants to do away with in his budget. and so they might think that immigration is going to do it but i don't think it will. i think education healthcare, safety jobs, those are the issues. >> bill: there is an analogy it seems to me as an observer from their repeated claims that they're going to reach out to the african-american community right? >> when the guy got up and said why are people upset about slavery, at least they got four squares. remember that? >> bill: on all of the issues, they vote against minimum wage, child care and all of these -- obamacare, all of the issues. but if we say look, look at -- new senator tim scott from south carolina. see, we are the big umbrella party. >> you know what? it will be interesting when he

comes up for re-election. he's a good guy, too. it is going to be interesting as to whether or not they actually let him run and are supportive of him. i thought it was a brilliant move of the governor to appoint him. let's see how far. >> bill: now we realize we got shellaced. we're going to reach out to the latino community and have immigration reform. and we're going to make you wait probably 55 years. they want to make this path to citizenship -- it is a path, man. from coast-to-coast, right? >> exactly. >> you probably followed it. i was talking to one of the civil rights leaders yesterday. there's still some questions in the bill about i guess the diversity provisions in immigration and making sure that there are people coming from diverse parts of the world who get in because they have people in the caribbean people in africa, other parts of the world who may notit in the other designations. we have to make sure we still have that ability. >> absolutely. and we have to make sure that we do not allow ourselves to be

pitted against each other. so we're going to play to what we think is going to help the latino population but yet we're going to hit the african population. so we have to make sure that we stay united. historically, the congressional black caucus has always supported and championed immigration reform. and so we have to look at these issues and not allow ourselves to be divided on them. >> bill: congresswoman karen bass joining us here in studio with jamal simmons here as a "friend of bill." so we talked about the gun vote and about immigration. with those two issues looming the budget sort of got lost, hasn't it? we don't have a budget yet. are we ever going to get one and what has to happen to get one? we'll get into that when we come back here. your calls welcome at 1-866-55-press on the "full court press" this thursday. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." just be grateful current tv does

not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

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>> bill: congresswoman karen bass and jamal simmons who knows more about politics than anybody else i know other than yours truly. in studio with us as a "friend of bill." so congresswoman are we going to get a budget? we have a house budget, we have a senate budget, we have a white house budget now. what's holding us up here? >> well, it will be very

interesting. the republicans, ryan and boehner said, for the last couple of years the senate needs to pass a budget. they need to pass a budget. okay. the senate's passed a budget. now the speaker needs to appoint a conference committee so we can get busy. but if you ask me whether or not we're going to have a budget, i don't think so. it will be interesting. i won't be surprised if we go throughout the entire year doing continuing resolutions. >> bill: can he go forward? is there any pressure on him? does he have to, under law point of conference committee or fail to do so? >> he could absolutely fail to do so. there is no particular -- you know he should. that's the next step. when you have a senate budget or a house budget. is to do that. but you know, he's not required to. >> bill: why do you think he wouldn't do it, jamal? because he spite to compromise. >> listen, i think there are a lot of discussions, a lot of issues on the table but the republicans don't want to step up for it. one of them, i think any

compromise of the president for some members is viewed as a defeat. and again, i do think that the speaker feels like he doesn't have a lot of wiggle room here. so we'll see if he think he can muscle something through or at least tolerate it coming out of the house. that his members will vote for. >> bill: it is hard to believe you would have this opportunity and then not -- at least attempt to forge out a budget. >> i've worked for candidates in this position. at some point you've got to make a decision as a politician. i'm sure you face this -- everyone faces this at this moment. am i going to have to do what i have to do to stay here because it is worth having a title and being invited to the good parties or am i going to do something that will last beyond my tenure and will be good for the country. some of the republicans, i think, they have not owned up to that. >> well, i think especially since i came in with the tea party, i think a number of them really came in, not planning to govern which is why they would be so much more effective as the minority party. >> i'm with you.

let's make that happen. >> because they really came in to throw rocks and to protest. they came in to stop. the problem is when you have power, you definitely have to make a decision. and then i think thabaneer early on for whatever reason, abdicated that power and essentially threw up his hands and said i can't do anything with these guys. we'll let the senate do anything. i'll figure it out when they throw it over here, what i'm going to do. i'm sure he was breathing easy when the background checks didn't pass. >> this is the sad part of this. i worked for politicians who have chosen to make a political vote to save themselves and lost anyway. there is nothing worse than the morning after defeat, knowing that you could have done something good and you chose not to do it. and you lost anyway. >> bill: right. you're out of office and you never got anything done. you didn't deserve to be there in the first place. elaine is calling from washington, d.c. right here in

our nation's capital. hi elaine. >> caller: good morning, bill. i'm mad as hell and i'm not going to take it anymore. apparently these politicians have forgotten who sends them to office. i'm going to donate my money i'm going to volunteer my time. i'm going to give as much time as i can and i'm going to do whatever i can to see that these people are removed from office. i implore my fellow citizens, do what you can. give your time. give your money. they need to go. and the fact that they're talking about this is an overreach of government, i'm so angry, one of the roles of government is to protect its citizens. what are they forgetting? i hope they spend their money well, the money the gun lobby has given them, spend it well because i will do all that i can, i ask my fellow americans come along. do what you can so in 2015, they'll be unemployed. >> bill: all right elaine! congresswoman, i think we need

30 million elaines out there. >> exactly. elaine, you'll have to give us your phone number. we have suggestions for you. >> bill: that's the spirit! we keep calling it the hall of shame. we've tweeted it out to our listeners and viewers today. the 46 names of people who voted against this. they've got to hear from the american people. >> i think that's absolutely right. while we're going along this, we only need 17 more seats in the house of representatives. and so keep that in mind. we're very close for the democrats to take back control and then the tea party can assume the position that i think they're much more comfortable with. and that is, as the minority, not having to govern, wanting to throw rocks and protest. >> bill: 17 more seat. i'm going to put you both on the spot here. you first jamal. anthony weiner, the next mayor of new york? >> you know what i want from former congressman weiner is him talking about his own absolution and his own ambition and start talking about what he wants to do for the people in new york. in all of the stories i've seen

him quoted in and talking about this, he's talking a lot about his own personal struggle and his family. if i was a voter in new york, i wouldn't give two cents about that. what i care about is whether he'll do something for me and my family. i think as long as he's focused on himself i don't think it will work out. >> bill: who is the next mayor of los angeles congresswoman? >> wendy greuel or eric? >> i think they're running neck and neck in terms of full disclosure. i have endorsed eric garcetti. but i think it will be a very close race. it is one of the things i find the most difficult about being an elected official is that when both candidates are your friends, you can't always sit on the sidelines. >> bill: i gotta say, i think both candidates are tremendous. i know them both, as well. i think -- i've not endorsed -- who cares what i think. but i think l.a. will be well served by either one. >> i agree. >> bill: congresswoman great to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> bill: my state of california.

all right, my friend. thank you. thank you. i'll be back with a quick parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: after yesterday's vote on background checks, you might as well shut down the entire congress and send them home, if you ask me. because if they can't get this right, they can't get anything right. there is no excuse, none, for refusing to extend background checks to all gun sales. i mean how could anybody with half a brain argue that it's okay to require them at gun

dealers but not at gun shows or over the internet? it doesn't even pass the laugh test. we learned that 46 senators, only care about one thing. getting their campaign check from the nra. they don't care about the american people. they don't care about the victims of columbine or aurora, california or virginia tech. they don't care about gabgy by giffords and they sure don't care about 20 first graders and their teachers shot down at sandy hook elementary school. shame on the senate. shame an every one of the 46 senators who voted no and shame especially on the republican party, only four of whom voted yes. remember this date. april 17, 2013. the most disgraceful day in the history of the united states senate. we'll be joined tombi bob cusack from the hill and brendan ayanbadejo. have a good one. come on back and see us

tomorrow.